From sand to snow, guitarist makes it home for holidays

December 21, 2007|JEREMY D. BONFIGLIO Tribune Staff Writer

Steve Brundage has traded sand for snow -- at least for the holiday season. The veteran Benton Harbor guitarist, perhaps best known throughout southwest Michigan as Mr. Open Mic, has spent the bulk of the past few years in Saudi Arabia, writing for "The Arabian Sun," the in-house newspaper of state-run oil company Saudi Aramco. This weekend, however, Brundage reunites with drummer Stony Ferguson and bassist John Brown as the Jazz Rhythm & Blues Trio (JRB3) for back-to-back gigs at The Livery in Benton Harbor and the Box Factory for the Arts in St. Joseph. "Despite the fact that I've been overseas, we've had this rapport for a long time," Brundage says. "I think we started playing together nine years ago, so when I'm in town, we try to get back together." Brundage, who still has a home in Benton Harbor, takes The Livery stage Friday with JRB3. He will then perform a solo set of acoustic blues, folk and Celtic music Saturday at the Box Factory before being joined by Ferguson and Brown once again. "It's going to be a mixed bag," Brundage says. "We pretty much run the gamut from rockabilly to Herbie Hancock." JRB3's eclectic sets will include jazz, funk, R & B, a few '70s tunes and an original or two. With their guitarist frequently half a world away, both Ferguson and Brown have other musical projects outside JRB3. Ferguson also is the drummer for Jetstream, a rockabilly, country and blues band. Still, Brundage says, the time, distance, and side projects haven't hindered their on-stage chemistry. "There's an infectious quality about this band," he says. "People always seem to want to get up and dance or tap their feet." Brundage grew up in Detroit, playing acoustic blues, then R & B. In his colorful career, he has played alongside Was (Not Was) vocalist Dillard "Sweet Pea" Atkinson in a band called The Exquisites; was a member of the Toronto jazz band Soul Citizens, and even hired David Letterman's band leader, Paul Shaffer, to perform -- for $25 a night -- at an after-hours club he once ran. After moving to southwest Michigan, Brundage played in coffeehouses and worked as a copy editor at The Herald-Palladium, where he'd entertain co-workers by playing a rendition of "Amazing Grace" on a pica pole -- a metal ruler used to measure copy in the newspaper industry. "Yeah, I gave up playing the pica pole," Brundage says. "I never found a way to electrify it." Brundage, however, is best known locally for playing guitar and hosting hundreds of open mic nights throughout southwest Michigan from 1997 to 2003. "They have open mic nights at The Livery on Mondays," Brundage says. "So I've been down there since I've been home seeing a lot of old friends." Although Brundage will be returning to his Middle East job in January, he says his bandmates are trying to get him to stick around. "They are pretty adamant that I come back and play guitar with them," Brundage says. "So I may be coming back (to stay) as early as late next year or a couple years at the longest." Whether its next year, the year after or the year after that, Brundage says the holiday gigs will continue to be an annual affair as long as there's still an audience to play to. "It's nice to be wanted," he says, "I guess, as long as your face isn't hanging up in the post office." Staff writer Jeremy D. Bonfiglio: jbonfiglio@sbtinfo.com (574) 235-6244